UCD leading €2.1m EU connected health cancer project

Prof Brian Caulfield, CATCH project co-ordinator at University College Dublin.

University College Dublin (UCD) is leading a six-strong partnership on a connected health Horizon 2020 (H2020) programme called CATCH.

Aimed at improving the diagnosis and survival rates of cancer, CATCH (Cancer: Activating Technology for Connected Health) will see eight PhD students work on the international project.

Despite improving rates in patient survival, CATCH was established to respond to a “fundamental requirement” for a new healthcare model.

Ireland, Spain and Denmark

Taking in academia, healthcare, IT and insurance, UCD will lead a team from Spain’s Universidad de Deusto, Salumedia Tecnologías and Oncoavanze, along with the University of Southern Denmark, and Beacon Hospital in Ireland.

UCD’s Prof Brian Caulfield will head up the project, noting the past decade as one of significant advancement in terms of cancer treatment.

“CATCH is a deep collaboration across academic, business and clinical sectors, but will be patient focused,” said Caulfield.

“The interrelated core research projects will address gaps in the knowledge and provide evidence for technology-enabled cancer rehabilitation that can be implemented, whilst adhering to the overall connected health concept that the patient is at the centre of it all.”

North and south

In a related project, Ulster University is leading a multidisciplinary, international research project that will use big data to transform healthcare policy across Europe.

With a fund of €4.5m, partners from all over the world – including Dublin City University and IBM Ireland – the Meaningful Integration of Data, Analytics and Services (MIDAS) will look to “better inform public policy” through the use of big data.

Last month, SiriusXT secured €3m in funding as part of H2020. The Irish start-up is producing the first commercial lab-scale soft x-ray tomography (SXT) microscope of its kind.

SiriusXT was founded in 2015 by Dr Kenneth Fahy, Dr Fergal O’Reilly and Dr Paul Sheridan, following 10 years of research into SXT technology. The company’s telescope allows researchers to illuminate whole single cells or tissue samples, and generate 3D images that are impossible to produce otherwise.